It doesn’t get easier for Davidson

TUSCALOOOSA | Jermareo Davidson is the reigning SEC Basketball Player of the Week, but the 6-foot-10 University of Alabama junior faces quite a challenge this week.

He needs to play even better.

Davidson, who stepped up to carry his share of the load after starting forward Chuck Davis went down with an injury in the Ole Miss game, will face some of the tougher inside players the SEC has to offer in the next four days. It starts tonight when the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-4, 1-2 SEC) come to Coleman Coliseum for a crucial early contest in the SEC West Division race, and continues when the Tide travels to face LSU on Saturday.

Davidson said on Monday that the SEC Player of the Week performance doesn’t need to be a “special occasion," but a standard for the rest of the season.

“I respect all our opponents," Davidson said. “That’s why I’ve got to play harder. If you play harder than your opponent, then it shouldn’t be a surprise when you have success. That’s what I meant."

Davidson said he realized that his recent success -- especially his 28-point effort at Kentucky last week -- will result in added attention from opposing defenses.

“It doesn’t have to just be about scoring," Davidson said. “I’ve got to get more rebounds, or pass the ball better. There are a lot of ways I can help the team.

“When Chuck went out, we all knew we had to find a way to help the team. In the Kentucky game, it was scoring with the ball for me. In other games, it might be other people scoring, but I still have to contribute."

Arkansas’ 7-foot center Steven Hill, currently the No. 2 shot blocker in SEC statistics at 3.0 per game, will likely get the assignment of guarding Davidson.

“Steven has always been the guy defensively we ask to match up against the other team’s best frontcourt player," Arkansas coach Stan Heath told the Northwest Arkansas Times on Tuesday. “He’s always relished that role."

Alabama coach Mark Gottfried, meanwhile, says that Davidson will need help against the big, athletic Razorbacks.

“It can’t just be Jermareo," Gottfried said. “Richard [Hendrix] has got to play more of a role. He had some foul trouble at Kentucky, and that hurt us."

Gottfried added that Arkansas creates matchup problems across the board for the Tide.

“It starts with [6-7 guard Ronnie] Brewer," Gottfried said. “He’s just so different from anyone else we play. He scores. He rebounds. He gets his hand on the ball and causes problems defensively.

“Then you look at them on the inside with Hill (7-0), Darian Townes (6-10) and [Charles] Thomas (6-8). Not a lot of teams have three guys with that much size. Then you add in Jonathon Modica, who seems like he’s in his ninth year at Arkansas.

“Everybody in the league looked at [Arkansas] at the start of the year as a team with the potential to be great and I feel like they are playing that way."

Gottfried’s Tide team is on an upswing, returning home at 2-1 in the SEC after road wins at Auburn and Kentucky. Still, the Tide -- which is down to eight scholarship players -- is “just trying to survive," in Gottfried’s phrase.

The inside game, with Hendrix, Davidson and Evan Brock, is still thin enough that Gottfried said the decision to redshirt freshman Yamene Coleman, while still in effect, could change “with one sprained ankle."

“We’re pretty limited [from a personnel standpoint]," Gottfried said. “We’ve got to play together. If we do that, then we have a chance."

Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil.hurt@tuscaloosanews.com or at (205) 722-0225.